How Carriage Axles are Made

A booklet circa 1900 from the Troy, NY Carriage Dealers' Journal describing the operation of the factory.

Accompanied by pictures at the end of the document.

The name Dalzell is of national extent in renown and is associated in the minds of all carriage makers with the finest possible quality of axles ever produced in this country.

In presenting a photographic view of this famous factory, taken in the dead of winter, it is done with a certain assurance of interest on the part of readers of this booklet, because it gives at least a faint idea as to how largely the carriage trade has appreciated the efforts of those who have devoted their lives not so much in seeing how much money they could make as in endeavoring to produce the best axles. Reputations are not made in a day. Their foundation lies deep in the past. There is a reason for every meed of praise which, though it be measured commercially, is based on just appreciation.

David Dalzell, the founder of the concern, was known as a skillful carriage trimmer in his early days. He trimmed the first six railroad coaches ever constructed in this country, under contract with James Goold of Albany, N.Y., for the Albany & Schenectady Railroad. Later he engaged in the manufacture of carriages at Hudson, N.Y. In 1845, he established a carriage factory at South Egremont, Mass., enjoying a reputation for fine work that commanded the best prices for his products. A transient mechanic in his employ suggested the purchase of a lathe and the making of axles sufficient for the wants of Mr. Dalzell’s shop, which being acted upon, experiment and practice soon showed that he could produce a better axle than he had been buying. Dalzell’s axles soon became as noted as his carriages, and soon a demand sprang up for them from other carriage builders. Seeing his opportunity, Mr. Dalzell erected a factory, put in an engine, and equipped it for the manufacture of axles for the trade. Confidence in the man, born of a knowledge of his integrity and his unflinching determination to do everything in the very best manner possible brought him such customers as James Goold and Long & Silsby of Albany, N.Y., David Smith of Springfield, Mass., Jason Clapp of Pittsfield, Mass., James Hall and Thomas Goddard of Boston, John R. Lawrence, Bradley & Pardee, Brewster & Baldwin, Wood Brothers, William D. Rogers and others, whose names are the most famous among carriage builders. Nothing equal to the perfection of the Dalzell axle had up to that time been produced.

In 1868 the business had increased so greatly as to require an enlarged plant, and Mr. Dalzell associated with him his two sons, David, Jr. and William C., the latter of whom is now the president of the company. Mr. Dalzell, Sr. died in 1879, David, Jr. having died the year previous, and in 1880 a new copartnership was effected, taking in Mr. R.C. Taft, who had been successfully engaged in the dry goods business in New York City, but had entered the employ of the axle company in 1877. Mr. Taft’s business training fitted him eminently for the general charge of the office and the finances of the company, while Mr. William C. Dalzell’s practical experience in the manufacture of axles made him the natural head of at the factory and general manager of the business.

In 1844 further enlargements were necessary to accommodate the growing trade, and a corporation was formed with William C. Dalzell as president; R.C. Taft, treasurer, and Chester G. Dalzell, secretary.

The plant as now existing was then designed. Its appearance in summertime is far more attractive than might be judged from the mid-winter scene. It consists of a group of a dozen or more buildings of rather tasteful effect, surrounded by well-kept lawns, through which runs a picturesque brook. The views which are here presented of the main office building and departments will be readily understood without explanation.

An important auxiliary of the business is the manufacture of a patented wrought iron axle box, originally invented and patented by David Dalzell, Sr. that formed the basis upon which the Dalzell & Ives Wrought Box Co., composed of Dalzell & Sons and Ives & Miller of New Haven, Conn., was organized. This business is conducted under the management of the Dalzell Axle Co.

The industries thus established formed the nucleus for the little village of South Egremont. In passing, we may say that South Egremont is in Egremont township, Berkshire county, four miles west of Great Barrington, twenty miles from Lenox, and received its name from the Earl of Egremont (Charles Windham), who was Secretary of State for England.

The famous Salisbury iron mines are not far distant, where, it is reputed, was discovered the first iron ore deposit in the United States. The quality of this ore has never been surpassed. The region is noted for its beauties of natural scenery and is a favorite resort for summer tourists. It lies at the base of Mt. Washington, and, with Mt. Everett, forms the southern limits of a range of hills lying between New York and Massachusetts and bordering the valley of the Housatonic. Many beautiful residences dot the landscape.

We submit that a good axle under a carriage is a good thing. The better and more perfect the axle the better it is for the user of the carriage. The best axle that can be made is none too good for both builder and user.

We believe that if the public were aware of the great value of perfect bearings under their carriages they would no longer tolerate the use of cheaply-made axles, and that it is only lack of information on the part of the user that makes it possible for the carriage builder to sell vehicles which pull hard because of imperfectly-made axles, which become badly worn in one season’s use or endanger the safety of the riders.

It has become a fashion or habit with makers of inferior axles to claim theirs to be “as good as Dalzell’s.” This is a tacit admission that Dalzell’s is the standard for quality.

To be as good as Dalzell’s, it is evident that the material and process of manufacture must be equal in quality to those employed by Dalzell, and it is well known that the prices of such would-be competitors’ goods are an effectual bar to the employment of the expensive methods necessary to the production of Dalzell axles, to say nothing of other disabilities.

Only the very best material that can be found, selected with special reference to its fitness for carriage axles, is used. Toughness and stiffness in the greatest degree are the first requisites. To this end iron and steel of special analysis are selected, that by a series of careful and exhaustive tests are found to possess the greatest tensile strength which, combined with other qualities, will enable the finished axles to resist shock and strain to which it is subject.

The same care is used in every detail of manufacture, even to the selecting of stock for brass castings used on Collinge axles, the malleable nuts for other axles–and even the leather washers, the makers of which say this company are the most critical customers on their list.

It will be interesting to see how axles are made in such a shop and to note the important points in their manufacture. Of course, in so large a business as this it is necessary to carry an enormous stock of metal constantly on hand. Hundreds of tons are stored in a suitable yard, conveniently divided for the accommodation of the various sizes of iron and steel, and arranged for their easy handling.

From the yard the bars, as they are needed, are conveyed to the forging department, where they are cut up to suitable lengths by means of powerful shears capable of cutting at one clip the largest bar as easily as you would cut a string with a pair of scissors. The metal is fed to the shears on a rack or table and the lengths regulated by a gauge. The pieces drop into trucks, which carry them to the furnaces, where they are heated preparatory to being subjected to the forging process. For convenience and to prevent loss of heat the forging hammers are placed near the furnaces.

Petroleum is used as a fuel, instead of coal, there being an appreciable amount of sulphur in the latter, which is objectionable and from which petroleum is free. The use of this fuel accounts for the absence of smoke from the chimneys of the factory. One of its best effects is the facility afforded for the nice regulation of its flow, insuring any degree of heat desired. The petroleum is stored in large tanks and fed directly to the furnaces.

There are a number of hammers in the forging department–some of them trip-hammers, some small hammers for light work and large ones for heavy work. One in particular is worthy of note, being one of the largest power hammers in the country, and was built by the Dalzell company. It is considered the finest specimen of this class of hammer in the world and is so nicely adjusted that it can deliver a blow of fifteen hundred pounds or one as light as a feather at the will of the operator. To witness its operation as it varies it’s strokes with every wish of the manipulator makes it appear as if possessed of intelligence, so obedient is it. The foundations of this hammer had to be so solidly constructed that no possible movement could destroy or even disturb the nice adjustments of the machinery. To deaden the vibration from the powerful blows, the foundations were made of timbers eighteen inches square and eighteen feet long, of which more than six thousand square feet were used. These are so laid together and secured by bolts as to be immovable under the hardest work of the hammer.

In the forging department are also upsetting machines for making wrought iron boxes, forges for making flap and crank axles, emery grinders for finishing flaps, and formers for shaping crank axles.

In all the forging work, axles are produced of the precise shapes required, all so exceedingly smooth as to require but little handwork, and what lathe work is necessary is reduced to the minimum. The economies thus affected, however, are in the interests of accurate and beautiful workmanship, which is the prime consideration. The great object is the production of the best possible axle. To preserve as much as possible of the original fiber of the material uncut is an important point.

The method of forging is that of drawing the metal under the hammer instead of upsetting the collars from small stock. For this reason the material must be of sufficient diameter to form the collar. It is then drawn down by forging under dies until the desired shape of arm and stock is obtained. This is a costly process, but it makes a stronger and much more reliable axle than can be obtained by using a smaller size of metal and upsetting the collar, or even of welding it on-processes used by makers of lower priced axles. Upsetting disturbs the fiber and weakens the axle at its point of greatest strain.

From the forging department the axle is taken to the turning room, where the delicate engine lathes and axle-turning machines–adjusted to the fineness of a hair, or finer–accomplish the work desired. On the engine lathes are turned the Collinge axles–that is, those which have no taper. The tapered arms are turned on what are called “rams.” These are constructed on the plan of a turret lathe, with a series of box tools having knives confirming to the different shapes which the operator is to produce. These machines are of recent invention, enabling one man to do the work of four men by the old method. The work of this department is intensely interesting, though offering by its quiet and close calculation a strong contrast to the exciting scene in the forging department, where all is noise and shock amid furnaces and flying sparks.

In the turning room the nicest perfection of detail is watched. Some of the machinery for cutting out cup axle collars, oil grooves in the spindles, milling the edges of collars, nuts, etc., are intricate and very ingenious. Here are also punches, large and small, for various parts of the work.

But an axle is not by any means finished when it leaves the turning room. It is purposely left sufficiently large to undergo the process of grinding and fitting. In the cheaper grades of axles the arm is turned down at one process sufficiently to allow the box to go on clear up to the shoulder or collar without difficulty. It will readily be seen that this cannot insure a perfect bearing. To insure this, four different processes are necessary, each one requiring the highest skill, and all expensive.

After the turning process the arm is filled with smooth files so as to conform more perfectly to the interior of the box. It is next ground with fine emery and oil until every portion of the arm fits perfectly and has a wearing surface on every part of the interior of the box. This is called “ground fitting” and is done in a separate department, where a finer surface is produced on the spindles than is possible by any other method.

Next comes the polishing, which is done with very soft pine claps, using flour emery and oil, securing a perfectly smooth, even surface. The axle, if it be made of iron, is now ready for the steel covering process.

This is an improvement over the old case-hardening process, carrying the hardening deeper into the metal and toughening it at the same time. Many were the efforts to avoid this costly process, the chief object of which is to reduce the friction and wear of the axle. Brass and composition boxes were used, but without satisfaction.

The Dalzell process brings an axle finished with the required shape to the tempering department, where it is placed in a retort–an iron box containing about a dozen axles, packed about with ground bone, with a large percentage of carbon admixture–which box, with others, is placed in the furnace, where the heat is evenly distributed to each axle, reaching from the surface of each spindle to its center with the same intensity, so that all axles are heated exactly alike. The boxes are surrounded with charcoal, and are brought to a cherry heat, which is maintained for three to four hours, according to the size of the axles and the depth of hardening required. When the required degree of heat has been reached it is not permitted to exceed that point. When ready the axles are taken out and dipped in water or oil, which fixes the temper and hardens the surface.

This process requires an annual consumption of ten thousand bushels of charcoal and is very expensive. The tempering has the effect of slightly warping the axles, making it necessary to straighten and refinish them through the ground-fit and polishing processes. When an axle is finished in this manner it possesses all the features of an ideal bearing. It will not heat, stick, nor break. It is perfectly round and true; the surface is as hard as glass and just as smooth, and if fitted with a wrought iron case-hardened box will run for years without showing any perceptible wear. We have seen many of these axles which were in almost perfect condition after 20 years’ service.

Anyone building even medium-grade work can really afford to use these axles, on account of the benefit to his customers and consequent increase of trade and reputation. Fine makers cannot afford to use anything else.

There have been tests made between a perfect ball-bearing axle and the Dalzell steel-converted wrought-box axle, showing the power required to draw the vehicle to be the same with either axle, while there is no comparison in durability, the hard, sliding surface of the wrought-box axles wearing year after year with no abrasion.

An axle box is almost, if not quite, as difficult to make as the axles; it has been a subject of fully as much study and experiment, if not more. A variety of metals and admixtures of metals have been used with more or less success, but nothing has ever equaled the wrought case-hardened box now made in the Dalzell factory.

It is necessary to have a metal that is tough, not liable to breakage, and with a wearing surface that is practically indestructible. The first efforts in this direction that presage success were made in 1870, using boxes made of gas-pipe cutting threads on one end, on which a malleable iron collar was screwed. This was very unsatisfactory. The collar would get loose. Attempts were made to upset the pipe enough to form the collar. This was successfully accomplished, and then the case-hardening process was applied to the finished box. Costly machinery was installed to do this forging.

The iron pipe is cut into suitable lengths by a machine which works automatically, requiring little attention from morning till night. After being heated and upset as described, the interior of the box is shaped in upright drill presses, where it is bored out with fluted reamers, the perfection of its shape requiring but slight work, however. Then the outside of the box is turned on an engine lathe, when it is ready for the tempering process, which is almost identical with that used on axles. After this it is turned and “ground fit” with oil and emery and then polished until the interior is as fine as a gun barrel.

The perfection of the boxes is just as essential as that of the axles and the same care is bestowed on them.

We show a photographic view of one of the Dalzell machines for upsetting wrought boxes. It weighs more than fifteen tons, and the upsetting plunger exerts a pressure of one hundred and forty-seven tons. There are but two machines in the world of similar construction–none quite like this one.

The wrought box department contains, of course, many machines, drill presses, lathes, automatic grinders, turret machines and thread cutters, etc.

A special tool department is a necessary adjunct of all large factories, and this one is supplied with a very complete shop for making and repairing all the tools needed, and is an important department.

The power for running this factory is furnished by a 150-horsepower boiler of the Babcock & Wilcox pattern and a 125-horsepower Greene automatic cut-off engine.

From the finishing room, where the last touches are put on the axles, boxes, nuts, etc., and the parts are assembled, the completed axles go to the stock room, which is located in the building with the general offices, where they are held ready for shipment. Special arrangements are made for conveniently storing and handling all the styles and varieties of axles which the company makes. An inspection of the finished products of this factory is worth the while of anyone using axles. Such varieties as Full Collinge, Improved Collinge, Mail Patent, Concord, Collinge Collar, Dalzell’s Patent Centennial, Steel’s Patent, Half Patent, etc., will be found always in stock, together with others, of which we might mention a few special varieties:

The Doctor’s Special is a new style long-distance axle, suppled with Brewer’s felt oiler and solid wrought iron hardened box. This has a large collar, but the box encloses the collar, making a broad bearing for the washer.

Dalzell’s improved Collinge axle has a cup collar, covering the end of the box; chambers in front and rear hold the oil. The axle nut is covered by a larger cup screwed to the point of the box, making a beautiful finish and perfectly oil-tight.

The Henry Killam Spring Water axle has a solid wrought iron box; cut collar and outer nut screwed on the point of box, but no leather washers are used. Instead, a bridge, or inner flange, is forged on the interior of the box near the point. Two strong spiral springs, one on either side of this flange, bear against the inner nut, which is screwed to the axle, and against a shoulder of the axle, near the point. This arrangement relieves the thrust of the axle and consequent strain on the wheel.

The Berkshire axle is practically a long-distance axle, being so well supplied with oil chambers, cut shoulders, and other devices for retaining and distributing oil, that it is one of the most satisfactory in use.

The Pray Spring-Washer coach axle embodies the spiral spring idea, as in the Killam axle, but places the spirals at each end of the box. The object is to avoid leather washers and relieve the end thrust. It is not made in sizes under one and one-fourth inches.

One of the more recent developments of the business is the manufacture of axles for motor vehicles, particularly the crank axles and guiding axles. The last named turn on an upright pivot, forged solid with the axle arm just back of the collar, from which an arm or handle projects backward and to which the guiding apparatus is attached moving the axles by this means instead of through the ordinary fifth wheel.

The manufacture of crank axles and flaps has grown largely in later years, in view of the great development of automobiles, wagonettes, buses and other vehicles requiring this particular shape.

We do not intend to enumerate, much less describe, all the varieties of axles made by the Dalzell Axle Co. Their catalogue will do this to better advantage; but we illustrate a few of their leading and most approved patterns, as an aid in comprehending the high quality of work produced by this house, and impressing on the mind of the reader the careful attention necessary to manufacture such goods on a large scale and to maintain a leading position in the market among the most critical axle users in the world.